bathtub in the blink of an eye, just like how Fionn had moved in the hotel room, Rose started to freak a little.
If she couldn’t control these powers, she’d give herself away.
What if Fionn hadn’t been lying? What if there were people, beings, out there who wanted to use her? To kill her?
Shaking, Rose slumped down in the tub.
Her whole life she’d felt like there was something missing. As a kid, she’d had this unnatural drive to succeed at gymnastics because the competitive sport gave her focus away from this strange feeling that had followed her around since before she could remember.
When her parents sat her down at sixteen and revealed they’d adopted her, Rose thought that was why she’d felt lost her whole life. Like there was a piece of her out there and she’d never feel complete without it. But to discover her birth mom was the aunt she’d thought had died in a car crash before she was born, along with her birth father, Rose knew she’d never find that piece. It was gone. Her adoptive mom, Anna, had told her there was no family left in Ireland. Anna’s parents died when she was young, and her sister was all she’d had.
Tragic for Anna.
Tragic for Rose.
It didn’t take a psychologist to realize that the reason Rose wandered was because she was still searching. And she’d been happy to wander.
Yet, now, sitting in the bathtub, scared but exhilarated by the possibilities before her, that ache inside her, the feeling she’d attributed to her missing piece … it was gone.
The ache was gone.
Rose pressed a hand over her heart.
It was the spell. All this time it was the spell that had made her feel incomplete.
Without access to her powers, she’d felt incomplete.
Did her mom know? Anna. Did she know? Or was this something her birth mother had done to her? So many questions … but who could she really trust?
Fionn’s face drifted into her mind and her pulse raced.
What was it about that guy?
She frowned. He wasn’t just a guy … and yet he’d told her he’d once been human. How had he become what he was? And was he—was she—really one of the fae?
It was something out of a fairy tale, right?
On the back of that thought, Rose decided she might as well shower and start the day because there was no way she could sleep after all this.
A squeak made her heart falter seconds before a stream of cold water hit her on the head.
“Argh! Fuck, fuck!” She dove out of the tub, shuddering as she glared at her showerhead. It had come on at the mere thought of taking a shower. Rose whipped off her shirt and grabbed a towel, wiping away the freezing-cold droplets on her skin and scrunching her wet hair.
“Okay.” She snarled at the shower. “Maybe it’s not a fairy tale after all.”
Rose decided it was safer to stick to her apartment for the day until she’d figured out her next move. Unfortunately, privacy wasn’t on the menu. About two hours after she’d gotten home, the building had come to life with people leaving their apartments for work. The smells from the bakery downstairs were even stronger to Rose’s heightened senses than before. But unlike normal, Rose wasn’t hungry.
She felt too distracted to be hungry.
Rose sat staring blankly at the television, wondering if she should call her mom or use the business card Fionn had slipped into her hand.
It should have been easy. She should have been able to trust her mother over a stranger.
And yet, if her mom had something to do with this spell, then she’d been lying to Rose her whole life.
Another lie.
It was on this distressing thought her apartment door juddered under a pounding knock.
She sighed heavily. The only person who knocked on her door like that was the landlord, Craig. He was a Scot. And not one of the nice ones.
What the hell did he want?
Every time he paid a visit, he swept over the place, stating he was just looking to make sure there was no damage. He liked to intimidate people. Rose wasn’t easily intimidated, and she knew it bothered him so he was extra smarmy with her.
With the way her newfound abilities were making themselves known whenever she had a mere thought, Rose didn’t want to open the door.
“Open up!” Craig yelled.
Taking a deep, calming breath, Rose crossed the small apartment and unlocked the door. Before she could fully open it, the bastard pushed inside.